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Radical new technology could end drilling and filling misery at the dentist

Radical new dental technology could mean the end of the drilling and filling misery many endure at the dentists.

22 Jul 2008

Discovery of new anatomical path through which the brain and spleen communicate

In a major step in understanding how the nervous system and the immune system interact, scientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have identified a new anatomical path through which the brain and the spleen communicate.

21 Jul 2008

Cranberry juice shows promise for urinary tract infections

For generations, people have consumed cranberry juice, convinced of its power to ward off urinary tract infections, though the exact mechanism of its action has not been well understood.

21 Jul 2008

First human tests of an injectable vaccine grown in genetically engineered plants

Plants could act as safe, speedy factories for growing antibodies for personalized treatments against a common form of cancer, according to new findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings came in the first human tests of an injectable vaccine grown in genetically engineered plants.

21 Jul 2008

Daily broccoli juice beats bladder cancer in elderly man

An elderly man in Britain believes he has beaten cancer by drinking a daily glass of broccoli juice.

21 Jul 2008

Fluoroquinolones can enhance gene-silencing tool

A way to turn off one gene at a time has earned acceptance in biology laboratories over the last decade. Doctors envision the technique, called RNA interference, as a tool to treat a variety of diseases if it can be adapted to humans.

20 Jul 2008

A glimpse of ancient RNA

Some bacterial cells can swim, morph into new forms and even become dangerously virulent - all without initial involvement of DNA. Yale University researchers describe Friday in the journal Science how bacteria accomplish this amazing feat - and in doing so provide a glimpse of what the earliest forms of life on Earth may have looked like.

19 Jul 2008

New discovery on Candida infections

Scientists here have found that certain substances from bacteria living in the human intestine cause the normally harmless Candida albicans fungus to become highly infectious.

17 Jul 2008

Superbug breakthrough

The week the government's chief medical officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, has announced that the NHS aims to create immunisation against two of the most common superbugs, MRSA and Clostridium difficile, within the next decade. But a research team led by University of Sunderland scientists has made a major breakthrough in the fight against a deadly hospital infection which kills tens of thousands of people every year, and it will be available within the next year.

17 Jul 2008

New British consortium to tackle healthcare associated infections

Just over 8% of all hospital inpatients in England develop a healthcare associated infection, with this figure rising to 23% in intensive care units. Preventing and controlling the transmission of infection is a key priority for those involved in healthcare.

16 Jul 2008

Cord traction removal of placenta safer than hand method after Caesareans

In Caesarean deliveries the placenta is usually removed by hand or by a technique known as 'cord traction'. A recent systematic review by Cochrane Researchers shows that cord traction poses less risk to the mother than manual removal.

16 Jul 2008

Potential treatment for TB solves puzzle

Scientists have uncovered a new target for the potential treatment of TB, finally resolving a long-running debate about how the bacterial cell wall is built.

13 Jul 2008

Scientists mimic molecules to protect against plague

Bacteria that cause pneumonic plague can evade our first-line defences, making it difficult for the body to fight infection. In fact, a signature of the plague is the lack of an inflammatory response. Now, scientists have discovered a way to protect against death following infection with plague bacteria, by using molecules that can mimic the pathogens. According to research published in the July issue of Microbiology, these molecules make antibiotics more effective and can even be used to protect against other diseases.

13 Jul 2008

Researchers crack final part of the immune system code

A group of researchers at the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen have developed models of neural networks that make it possible to simulate how the body protects itself from disease and predict the immune system's access codes.

10 Jul 2008

New understanding of how malaria parasite survives in and totally changes red blood cells

A new study-done on a scale an order of magnitude greater than anything previously attempted in the field of malaria-has uncovered an arsenal of proteins produced by the malaria parasite that allows it to hijack and remodel human red blood cells, leaving the oxygen-carrying cells stiff and sticky.

8 Jul 2008

Experts say superbugs all set to overwhelm Australia's health system

Experts around the world are concerned about the threat to hospitals from 'superbugs' such as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) which have developed resistance to most of the antibiotics used to treat them.

8 Jul 2008

Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among bacterial pathogens isolated from cattle in different European countries

Tests of antibiotic resistance in cattle have revealed stark variation across thirteen European countries. The results, published in BioMed Central's open-access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, show that major differences were apparent in the occurrence of resistance between countries and between the different antimicrobial agents tested.

7 Jul 2008